OK is the perfect way to describe this game. The best way I can put it, is it feels like Nintendo hired the teams behind Madden or Call of Duty to crank out a Mario title. It is functional but very derivative of what came before, and honestly I think this is the 1st 3D Mario that has failed to innovate in any real way. It's certainly not the special gem that every other 3D Mario has been up to this point. Multiplayer aside (which sucks btw if you want to actually make any real progress in the game), it really does feel like a rehash of the 3DS game, but without the awesome 3D effect or the benefits of being on a portable. I think the lack of online multiplayer drives home that point better than anything else I can say. In this day and age, a AAA holiday release that's (supposedly) heavily focused on multiplayer launching without online is downright cheap/lazy/rushed/ect. Even if the multiplayer isn't that good to begin with, it's a main focus of the game and should have been there, and it's absence is inexcusable, even on WiiU. That said, I'd say $40 is a fair price, but $60 was asking too much.
Before anybody jumps down my throat, I recognize that while this game may not be winning any GOTY awards (at least none that aren't Nintendo-biased like NintendoLife or GoNintendo or w/e, and even then, we've had better on 3DS) but it's still a fair game. It's just that we've come to expect so much more from a console 3D Mario title, and graded on the Mario curve this game is average at best. I mean, it's Mario on WiiU..... no interesting Fludd mechanics, no crazy gravity puzzles, no amazing 3D effects, and not even the incredibly fun exploration elements that go into star hunting. It really feels like this game was pushed out way too quickly as an attempt to boost WiiU rather than any attempt to push Mario forward or do something new, and I for one expected a lot better from a 3D Mario.
and Xbox two
Champion's Road